1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a chocolate confectionery entrapping fatty cream with fine gas bubbles therein, and more particularly to that showing good melt in the mouth, and with smooth and light taste.
2. Related art
In general, a chocolate confectionery entrapping gas bubbles therein and another chocolate confectionery, wherein gas bubble entrapping cream of mainly w/o emulsion type, comprising a fruit paste and fresh cream and adjusted water or moisture content to about 8% by weight or more less (herein after referred to merely as "the chocolate confectionery") are chocolate confectionery products favorably noticed by consumers, since those show nice melt in the mouth and light taste.
As a process for manufacturing such a chocolate confectionery, for instance, there is a process comprising steps of preparing a fatty cream base with gas bubbles therein, and filling the cream base in constant amount to an inner space of a shell chocolate.
In this case, according to the process disclosed in Jap. Pat. No. Sho 63-49040(A), the chocolate confectionery is manufactured by feeding under pressure an inert gas such as air, nitrogen or the like gas to a fat and oil dough with use of a cooling and stirring type continuous gas dispersing machine to continuously prepare a fat and oil dough with gas bubbles therein.
There is also another process, wherein a fatty cream base is previously charged in inner space of a shell chocolate, the shell chocolate with the fatty cream the rein is transferred into a reduced chamber to cause an inflation or expansion of very fine bubbles dispersing in the fatty cream base and to make the cream base having porous honeycomb structure, cooling the fatty cream base in the shell chocolate to cause solidification thereof under reduced pressure, scraping off, if necessary, an excess part of the solidified fatty cream, and then charging a molten chocolate base on the surface of the solidified fatty cream, in a conventional manner to form a bottom of the shell chocolate [Jap. Pat. No. Sho 60-35093(B)].
The process as disclosed in said Jap. Pat. No. Sho 63-49040(A) utilizes such a characteristic of the fat and oil dough that a partial crystallization of fatty components therein causes a gas bubbling in great extent, and is excellent in that a fat and oil dough entrapping gas bubbles of fine and uniform in size can easily be prepared. Namely, the fat and oil dough entrapping gas bubbles therein, which has a specific gravity of about 0.35-0.80 and bubbles of 0.3 mm or more less in diameter can be continuously prepared, when the cooling and stirring type continuous gas dispersing machine shall be employed, as disclosed in Jap. Pat. No. Sho 63-49040(A). However, this process has a disadvantage if used with a fatty cream base, in that a tapping operation is required for the fine gas entrapping fatty cream base charged in the shell chocolate to make flat the top surface of the charged fatty cream base, since the gas bubble entrapping fatty cream base shows almost no fluidity, but a shock or vibration due to the tapping operation causes a partial consolidation of gas bubbles to make the same larger and a partial escape of the gas entrapped in the fatty cream base to increase its specific gravity, so that the filling in constant amount by a conventional piston type or stencil type filling machine becomes difficult. Namely, a friction and other factors at the part of piston, nozzle or stencil increase specific gravity of the fatty cream base by 0.30-0.50% than that of intrinsic value thereof to sacrifice in some extent of the light taste which is one of excellent characteristics of the fatty cream.
While, according to the process as disclosed in Jap. Pat. No. Sho 60-35093(B), the fatty cream base should be subjected to a reduced pressure for forming the porous structure, and then cooling to solidify the same in such an extent under the reduced pressure condition that the porous skeleton shall not be damaged, when the reduced pressure is released and thus a complicate and larger size apparatus is required. Further, this process has a disadvantage that size of gas bubbles to be formed has almost no correlation to an extent of reducing pressure and a sudden inflation or swelling shall occur, when the pressure is reduced to reach a value overcoming the viscosity resistance of fatty cream base and thus size of the formed gas bubbles becomes larger (0.6-1.5 mm), and as a result, the solidified fatty cream entrapping such gas bubbles therein shows rough feeling in the mouth to cause a problem in quality.